COLLEGE’S dream of winning the Dundas Cup across three straight seasons came to an end in a dramatic last round of the Hamilton and District Cricket Association A grade regular season on Saturday, as the reigning premiers missed out on a spot in the finals after Gorae-Portland came from behind to claim fourth spot.

Gorae-Portland d College

DAY two of the last round dawned with Gorae-Portland needing a further 147 runs with seven wickets in hand to claim the points, but the College bowlers were determined to keep the dream od defending the cup alive, as they warmed up at College Turf.

The Eagles only needed a further 20 overs to mop up those seven wickets, as the visitors were dismissed for 171 with both sides playing attacking cricket.

Gorae-Portland captain, Nick Wills, led from the front with 33, while Lachie Brown grabbed 4-23 to be the best of the home side’s bowling attack.

With a result already achieved, the day reverted to time available, rather than a set number of overs, for each team to push for an outright victory.

Even though College had the first innings points tucked away, it needed the extra points from and outright victory to secure a finals place and Charles Murrie and Heath Schmidt came out with attack in mind.

Murrie added 49 to his first innings effort of 50, with Schmidt finishing with 29-not-out as the Eagles batted for only 12 overs in setting the visitors 148 to claim victory.

Wills was joined by Stephen O’Brien in the middle, as Gorae-Portland began the chase and the skipper cracked two crisp boundaries to make the team’s intentions clear.

He would make no more though, as Jordy Anthony claimed the first of his two wickets, but O’Brien was throwing the bat at every delivery.

His batting was far from classical, and he missed as many balls as he hit, but he posted 42 to give the visitors the start it needed.

Zac Duncan (five) struck a crisp shot off his pads that went straight to Murrie at short mid-wicket and the fourth wicket was gone for 88, but there should have been a few more back in the pavilion, as the Eagles dropped chance after chance.

Harvey Reynolds (36) and Sam Atchinson (44-not-out) added 40 for the fifth wicket, which took the wind from the Eagles’ sails and the winning runs were knocked off with three overs remaining in the game.

Gorae-Portland had come from behind to chase down the 148 runs required to win outright and claim fourth spot.

St Andrews d Portland Colts

CLEM Young Oval was the other venue where the result of the game would determine the finalists, with Portland Colts chasing 213 for victory and fourth place on the ladder.

St Andrew’s opening bowler, Latham Wishart, was on fire with the new ball, claiming five of the first seven wickets to fall, to go along with his 54 runs that rescued the Drews on day one.

Only Colts skipper, Luke Evans, could be happy with his innings, as the ball dominated the bat with the visitors collapsing to be 7-81 after 46 overs, and it appeared that the Drews would win easily.

That win would take another 24 overs to materialise, as the Colts’ tail wagged with Matthew Belden (54) and Riley Cook (24) digging in.

It took until the first ball of the 71st over for the home side to win the game, as the final Colts batsman fell with 170 on the board and Wishart had 6-48 next to his name, as the home side secured third place on the ladder and Colts fell out of the top four.

Casterton d Pigeon Ponds

CASTERTON District made sure it would finish the home and away season in second place and secured a home final, as the Maroons defeated Pigeon Ponds easily at Island Park Turf.

Defending only 188, Casterton District dismissed its arch rivals inside only 45 overs, as the visitors collapsed to be 6-30 in the 17th over, as Logan Gibbs and Jacob Edwards displayed the new ball form that saw the pair selected as the HDCA Hurricanes’ opening bowlers this summer.

The Pigeons put up little resistance against the new ball pair and wickets tumbled, but Anthony Close (38) and Will Staude (27) settled the innings with a stand of 61 for the seventh wicket, before Staude was caught by Sullivan Gibbs from the bowling of Edwards.

Close followed with the board unchanged, and the last wickets fell with the score on 95, as Gibbs returned figures of 7-34, while Edwards grabbed 3-19 in support.

Ponds will now spend the winter waiting for next summer to start, while the Maroons look ahead to next Saturday and Sunday, as they host St Andrew’s for a place in the grand final.

Tyrendarra d Grampians

TYRENDARRA warmed up for its first HDCA finals campaign with a five-wicket defeat of Grampians at Monivae Turf.

Grampians posted 233 on day one and the Darras knew the Pumas would want to end its season with a victory against the ladder leaders.

Lachlan Kirk (31) and Sam Wilson (27) added 53 for the first wicket to hand their team a solid foundation to start the innings.

Wilson was the first to go, as Ty Gilmore held onto the chance from the bowling of Zach Burgess, but he was soon followed the very next ball by his brother, Jake Wilson, who was bowled by Burgess.

Kirk fell 20 runs later, but Jordi Withers and Ben Menzel then shared a 121-run partnership for the fourth wicket, as the pair fine-tuned their games for the finals to come.

Menzel (39) was happy to hand the strike to Withers, but Carl Joyce broke through the defence of the all-rounder to end the partnership, and then followed that up with the wicket of Cameron Mather (zero) who gave Joyce a return catch.

This brought the Withers brothers together with Hamish joining Jordi in the middle and the pair carried the team to the winning score.

With the final ball of the match, Jordi Withers struck the six he required to post his century, and he finished unbeaten on 100, while Hamish finished with 16-not-out.

Joyce (2-55) and Zach Burgess (3-94) were the only Pumas to claim wickets, as the Darras chased down their target inside 57 overs to post a dominant victory to end the home and away season as minor premiers.

Portland Tigers d Hamilton

PORTLAND Tigers travelled to Dahl Turf for the final round of its initial season in the HDCA and came away with the points and a seventh-place finish on the ladder.

Tigers started the day needing a further 32 runs with five wickets in hand and the hosts desperate to end their summer on a high.

Will Oakley (33), Joel Askew (32), Dean Brewster (21), Nikolaus Oakley (18), and Charlie Harvey (30-not-out) ensured the points would travel back down the Henty Highway, as the visitors were finally dismissed for 192.

Hamish Kearney (3-42) and Cameron Templeton (3-38) were the pick of the Hamilton bowlers, and the home side batted a second time finishing on 7-54, and with the Blues missing players on day two, it meant it was an outright loss to end the season.

South Portland d Macarthur

SOUTH Portland took out the honours in the final clash of their season with a dominant first innings victory over Macarthur.

They resumed on day two with the first innings result already locked away, and while neither Tighe Warburton nor Karsen Edwards were able to improve on their scores from last Saturday, it was ultimately inconsequential for South.

Their skipper, Lachie Warburton, sent Macarthur in

to bat in pursuit of a potential outright victory, and while he and Tighe picked up two and three wickets respectively, Macarthur was able to make its way to 9-262 from 53 overs, as Adam Fry top-scored with 75.